The Golden State Warriors opened their new arena in San Francisco on Sunday as the Chase Center played host to their preseason matchup with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers. L.A. won the game with ease, 123-101, but its the preseason so that means very little — although there were certainly some positive takeaways for the new-look Lakers.
For the Warriors, it was a night to break in the new arena and try to start building a bit of chemistry with a very new roster themselves. While there are plenty of new faces in Golden State, the Warriors’ world still revolves around Steph Curry, and their two-time MVP fittingly hoisted the first Warriors shot in the new arena on Sunday when he put up a contested 38-footer to open the game.
Steph's first shot in the new arena ahahaha https://t.co/EowVZIer0j
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) October 6, 2019
This was apparently a premeditated decision from Curry, as he told new teammate D’Angelo Russell at the scorers table prior to the game that he was pulling up as soon as he got into the frontcourt on their first possession. As Russell explained after the game, he didn’t take Curry all that seriously, thinking it was a joke, but he learned quickly that his new star teammate is one of the very few in the league that’s not joking when talking about shooting from all over the floor.
Steph Curry christened Chase Center with an immediate 40-foot heave upon touching it the first time. He told D’Angelo Russell he was going to do it right before tip. Russell tells the story. pic.twitter.com/vwpoXmBt3M
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 6, 2019
This is an extreme example and in a preseason game, Curry and company couldn’t care less about a bad shot to open a game, but Russell will have to adjust to a new freedom of play that the Warriors and Curry specifically exhibits. Curry will shoot from all over the floor and it’ll take some time for Russell to figure out when and where that will happen, but eventually nothing will shock him anymore when it comes to Steph.
